Rubber footwear.



M. C. CLARK.

RUBBER FOOTWEAR. APPLIQATLON FILED MAY28,1908.

Patented Dea-27, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET lK M. C. CLARK. RUBBER FOOTWEAR,

l 'APPLIOATIGN FILED MAY 28,1'908, A l

980, 1 73. 4 Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BY 4M-MW...)

- M Afrox/vir UNrrnn srArns ieA'rnNr OFFICE.

AURICN C. CLARK, or PROVIDENCRRHODE ISLAND, AssIGNoR To MAURICE C. CLARKCOMPANY, 'or PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION or RHODE ISLAND.

RUBBER FOOTWEAR.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, MAURICE C. CLARK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in RubberFootwear, of which the followingr is a specification, reference 'beinghadrto the drawings accompanying and forming' part ofthe saine.

` Thisinvention relates to the construction of vulcanized rubber soles.lwhereby they can be readilyand easily attached to the leather shoewithout the yaidof cement,`nails,

or sewing, and can be as readily and easily' removed by the wearer whendesired, as in the ease of the Ordinary rubber overshoe.

The improvementscomprising. the present forms which at the. present time'I believe exemplify the bestinode of applying the invention. Even inthe forms just referred to, however, the details of construction can bevaried-widely without departure .from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claim.

Referring` now to the annexed drawings, Figure 1 shows in longitudinalsection one forni of the invention, attached to a leather shoe, as4worn. Fig. 2 is an enlarged crosssection, taken substantially on linel'I-II of F ig. 1, showing the rubber clenched to the sole of theleather shoe. Fig. 3 is bottom plan view of the rubber, removed from theFig; 4 is a sido view of the same, and Fig. 5 is a cross sectionsubstantiallyon line V-V of 1Tig. 4, and showing also a different modeof attaching the flange or clenching member to the. sole portion of theovershoe. Fig'. (i is a similar cross section, with the lclenchingflange attached to the sole portion in the. same manner as inSpecification of Letters Patent. Patented 'Dea 27 1910, v Applicationsteamy 2s. 190s.' serial No. 435.408.

Figa'. 5. and showing the rubber provided. with a cord in theelenchingflange. Fig. 7' is a detail perspective view of the member ofthe fastening;r means which is attachedl positively to the rubber sole,and Fig. 8 lis a similar view of the member which is at'- taehedpositively to the leather shoe.

Referring now to thedrawings in detail. l indicates the rubber soleproper, of the article.- i

is the upper or Iflange-portion, which, joined -with the'elot-h strip 3,forms the ttangre for clenchi'ng. thesole 1 to the sole of the leathershoe, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2. As is customary in theconstruction ot' rubber footwear, the article is -provided with a clothinsole, indicated by-llf, extending preferably to the point indicated at5,

3, Fig. 5. indicates a suitable filling sole. As so far described, thearticle is Constructed of materials usually ,employed in the manufactureof rubber footwear. Un like the ordinary 'overshoe, however, thecloth'insolc and the fillingsole do not;ex tend entirely over the shank,but are sub. stantially coextensive with the sole-portion onlyY andvterminate ,neferably .at the lpoint; indicated by the dotted line 5,Fig. 3. The

remaining portion of the shank is formed of sheets or layers of elasticrubber, and embedded therein is a stout cloth stay 7, foldedl to form aloop as vclearly shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. Linked in this loop is afastening member S, provided with a tongue 9 extend- .ing forwardly intothe open center Aof the member, vand also -provided with a rearwardly7extending,r and downwardly bent finger piece 10 for convenient grasp bythe finger and thumb in fastening and unfastening the sole, as explainedhereinafter.

The leather shoe with which the-'article is to be worn is provided onthe shank of its'v sole with a staple il, (shown removed from the shoein Fig. S), the staple being located near enough to the heel to requirestretching of the elastic shank of the overshoe to bring the. fasteningmember S into engagement..

From the foregoing the method of use will be. readily understood. lVhenit is desired. to put the rubber sole. on the shoe the former is fittedon the .leather sole with the fiange fittinpr over the edges of thelatter. The fastener S is now grasped and pulled backward, therebystretching the elastic shank of the the tension of the elastic shankholds the locking members securely in engagement. The rubber sole 1sthus ellectually held against forward movement and consequentlisengagement from the leather shoe. lli-hen it is desired to removethe-rubber, the fastener S is drawn back outY of engagement with themember Ll, whereupon the rubber can easily be detached Jtrom the-shoe.

In the article illustrated in Figs. l to C,

the lipiof the flange 3 is inclined downward, as clearly shown in Fig.5. The object of this construction is to cnablebne size of.

over-shoe to it leather shoes of'various thicknesses of sole; thedownwardly inclined edge of the flange 3 adjusting itself readily to theleather sole whether the same is thick or thin. In the form illustratedin Fig. 6, the

edge or lip of the flange 2a has embedded in' it an inextensible cordorvire 12, to prevent stretchingzand to insure a lirm hold on theleather sole when the article is being worn.

In'Fig. 2 the flange portion 2 is shown integral with a sheet extendingacross the solegortion l, While in Figs. 5 vand 6 the saidange 2 isattached by means of a relatively narrow portion extending inwardlyunder such sheet.

Itlwill be seen that niyinvention diilers radically fromv any type ofrubber footwear previously known.' At the same time the invention,possesses 'marked advantages over the prior'larticles.` Fpr example,the-leather shoes now commonly worn have muchA h1gher heels thanformerly, especially in the case of womens shoes, in almost all 'olwhich the heels are fully as high as the top ot' the foot or vani-p nearthe toe. Hence with a low-cut rubber it is'not necessary to have itextend around the heel for protection, -as a depth of water' or mudwhich would wet above the heel would also wet the front part of the shoeby going over the vamp.- Nevertheless, heel parts of some sort werenecessary, in order to hold thc forward portion of the rubber on theshoe. Moreover, with the so-called footholds, invisible over "i shoes,etc., n which a back strap is provided to hold the forward part inplace, it

has become acommon complaint that the overshoes wouldv not stay on, asthe back strap wQu-ldbecomc stretched after a little use. `With myinvention, however, which provides means fof positivcly securing theforwardpart of the rubber to the shoe, all

heel parts, back straps, etc., can be dispensed w 1th, 'therebymaterially lessening thev .cost

of the article and making'it in every way sol-e, making a good litlargely if not en tirely a matter ot mere chance.` Thus, leather shoesha ving the same form or shape ot sole'may have French, Cuban, military,

or regular heels; so that while one rubber might tit any of these *shoeson the sole and vamp the same rubber would probably lit only one shoeproperly on thelieel portion. But with my invention, in which no attempt.is made to tit the back of the shoe, the pro` duction of well-fittingovershoes is b no means diliicult; and that, too, with ewer shapes inlasts.

I am aware that it has been proposed heretofore to embed a'cord in thevamp or upper of a rubber overshoe, but in every instance such cord hasbeen placed highabove the sole of the leather shoe. In my invention,however, the cord is A'so located as to aid directly in clcnching therubberfon the top edge of the leather sole.

As previously stated, my invention can be embodied in other formsbesidesthose herein specifically described, and the latter can be modifiedwithout departure from the proper scope of the invention." For instance,I do not consider myself limited to any particular type of fasteningdevices, sincethere are numerous devices that can beconveniently andsuccessfully used for thepurpose.

.lV hat I claim is:

An article of rubber footwear, comprising a sole-portion devoid of aheel, provided at its edge with an inwardly and downwardly extendingflange adapted to readily adjust itself to the edges of shoe-soles ofdifferent thicknesses, the shank-portion being elastic and therebycapable of being elongated by stretching, and having secured to it afastening device to coperatc with a fastening device fixed to the shankof the wearers shoe when the said elastic shanlvportion is stretched to'bring the fastening device carried Athereby into engagement with'the device on the shoe; whereby the said fastening device and the inwardly anddownwardly extending flange serve to secure the article on the shoe-soleagainst displacement in any direction.

J. A. MILLER, A Criss. I'I. lSimoon. f

